Summer snowflakes

Listened to the thunder a long time last night.

Storms upset people. Violent bursts of rain and electricity. Disruption. Danger.

In a way, though, I find them relaxing. It makes me wish I still had a front porch. So I could sit out in the remains of the day and watch the rain.

I thought tonight about Pat Conroy, particularly about his book "The Lords of Discipline," about the young girl that sends the cadet the broken sand dollars through the mail. I thought about her a long time. I thought about the symbolism of pieces of a romance, shattered and scattered, all that's left of the round, perfect summer snowflake.

The human heart is a funny thing. It has such a capacity to care, to love, to empathize. But, it also has the capacity to hate -- and to break.

Maybe that, in the end, is what bonds us together. By knowing the pain of loving and losing, we better cherish the beauty, the kindness, the woman who comes later to make you forget about the past.

It's funny. I once agreed to go out with a girl, back in high school, because I didn't have it in me to tell her no. The thought of upsetting others makes me sick. I cannot stand to see somebody cry.

I don't know. Life is one strange trip. I guess what you have to do is balance the blue skies with the gray. Chances are the scales will tip the right way.

Points pondered on a rainy night.